Why?
by Lisea18
Summary: Kisame is curious, why did Itachi let Sasuke live twice? He asks the question… What will Itachi answer?


Title: Why?  
Author: Lisea18  
Rating: K+  
Characters (mentioned or present): Sasuke, Itachi, Kisame.  
Warning: Spoilers about Itachi.  
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
Summary: Kisame is curious, why did Itachi let Sasuke live twice? He asks the question… What will Itachi answer?

A big thanks to my Beta!

Author's note: English is not my first language, so please forgive my mistakes.

Just to be sure, I'm NOT agreeing with everything Itachi is going to say lol I'm just trying to see how he thinks, that doesn't mean it's my opinion.

Please if you liked it leave a review, even a small one.

Why?

In a silent and faraway clearing a small fire was burning. Around it rested two dark figures, draped in black and red coats. Night had long fallen. One of the men laid on the ground, obviously sleeping while the other one stood watch.

The blue skinned man let his tired back rest against a tree, his sword next to him. People tend to make two mistakes about him. First they thought that he was the strongest one since he was the oldest, but that wasn't true. Itachi was a genius whom he couldn't really rival. Second, they thought he was all strength, which was mostly true, but not really. He had to be quick-witted to follow Itachi's reasoning. He was long used to the silent orders and to the implicit meaning of each word his partner graced him with. He even knew how to interpret Itachi's way of saying his name. Yet today he didn't understand.

Kisame looked at his partner, something was off. He had exhausted himself, fled from a fight and their mission and spared his brother.

"Itachi-san?"

He didn't get an answer but the burning sensation of blood-red eyes on him told him Itachi was listening. Hadn't Kisame been an accomplished Shinobi and a very deadly man he would have started to fidget. How could he put his question into words?

"Why?"

A delicate eyebrow rose. He had to elaborate.

"Why did you spare the kid twice?"

Yes, why? For crying out loud Itachi had murdered his whole family in cold-blood but had spared a useless little boy. Then, when he again met with the pathetic little thing, who was barely able to stand up against him, he had let him live… again! Why? That wasn't like him!

Itachi's eyes turned back to black and settled on the fire, almost unseeing. Many had asked already and many more would ask. Many people had asked themselves but didn't have the chance to ask him directly or didn't dare to. Still, everyone wondered. Why did he let his foolish little brother live?

Itachi had heard them talk. Some thought that Sasuke was a reminder, a way to always feel the guilt, a punishment. No, not at all. That wasn't like Itachi. His family was completely worthless. He didn't feel any guilt whatsoever.

Why was it acceptable to kill animals but not other people? Intellect? Who were they to judge who was the cleverest? Maybe animals were clever in a way humans couldn't comprehend. In old times tribesmen killed each other, even animals kill their own kin. Nowadays there were Shinobi. They killed for a living. They were taught to kill, to become killing machines. He was linked to his family by blood, so what? What was blood? It was biology, just like flesh. Blood bonds meant nothing. People can love people who aren't related to them. His family were just normal people to Itachi. And people could be killed, like animals. They were all animals, things made of flesh, mere meat.

This theory wasn't the answer. So why?

Others thought that Sasuke was sort of Itachi's reflection; too alike to be killed. Or that the child had potential. Yes, he did. Was he a worthy opponent? No. One day maybe, but Itachi didn't care. He didn't need an opponent. He had other ways to test his power. So why?

People who were sure Itachi was mad, linked his madness to something they called "unhealthy" and "abnormal." They thought he loved Sasuke, not like a little brother, but like a lover. Oh how interesting did they find this idea. But no, that wasn't the answer either. Itachi didn't mind this theory. He never judged people's tastes. On the contrary, he found them rather interesting.

"Abnormal?" Who could judge? What was abnormal? To love or better said to desire the same sex? Homosexuality? Well, it did go against Mother Nature's laws but in nature you could find homosexual animals, so visibly it wasn't so strange. Humans are part of nature so it's natural. Maybe it was a way to slow down the proliferation of species? Maybe it was just a chemical problem. Who knows? "You can find love everywhere," some would say. That was optimistic and stupid. Itachi didn't believe in "love." Love was a concept created by culture.

Yes, love was only a concept. You did find animals that would die for their offspring but you could also find animals that would eat them to survive or to display their power. Love wasn't universal and visibly humans were not a "one partner for life" kind of animals. Some people could feel love and others couldn't. But society had set rules. You had to love your family. How could Itachi say that love was only cultural? Simple, just take a look in history. People used to kill their daughters just because they were female. They sent their children far away to be raised by total strangers. That only served to prove that not everyone loved their offspring.

Maybe it was the "loving his brother" part that really posed trouble? So what? After all, it was only forbidden because families needed to make alliances with other families to have more power and wealth. They had also noticed that mixing their blood too much, during too many generations wasn't good because recessive diseases would happen more often. People who loved their siblings were considered insane, but that was only a cultural fact. Itachi despised people who judged others and wanted to impose their point of view. All in all, Itachi didn't see where the problem was. Humans are part of nature, so what humans do is only natural. And why would he care? As far as it didn't disturb his plans he didn't care at all. That was somebody else's business.

But there they were, all those words like "abnormal" and "insane" and all those cultural judgments. "Insanity?" Who were they to decide? Really, insanity didn't exist. It was all a question of how close to the threshold they were. To Itachi all people were mad to begin with only that when they couldn't cope with reality anymore they would just let madness eat them away. So nobody could really say. In reality did it truly exist? In the past mad people were considered links to God. So things you couldn't understand were madness? He didn't think so. People who thought that were weak.

Itachi mentally sighed. He tended to think a bit too much and to let his genius brain follow its own path; jumping from one idea to another just wandering. Back to this interesting idea of him wanting Sasuke. It was partially true. Itachi wanted Sasuke's body but not like a lover. He wanted to steal Sasuke's body. Why? Because his eyesight was weakening. Itachi was becoming blind. That was the Mangekyô Sharingan curse. Itachi knew of it so he had let Sasuke live, to be able to take over his body. Then he could have a new strong and powerful body with the Sharingan. He was trying to make Sasuke awaken his Mangekyô Sharingan because Itachi didn't have a best friend anymore. He couldn't awaken this power now. He just had to wait for Sasuke to get those eyes and then he would steal his body. That was why Itachi had let Orochimaru live this long. He needed Orochimaru's power to take over Sasuke's body. The Snake even planned to train Sasuke. How nice of him.

Sasuke was alive because he had the same potential as Itachi and he was a useful tool. He was his future body. Itachi let a smirk grace his features, he was sure Sasuke would actually be _happy_ to be of use to him.

Kisame sighed. His partner was lost in his own little world. Was he ever going to get an answer? After a long and intense silence from Itachi, Kisame had almost dropped the idea when he finally heard the answer, "because."

How Kisame hated Itachi when he did that. The bloody bastard! He had made him wait, dread, hope, give up and then he had just strengthened his curiosity without even answering the question! Keeping his indignation and frustration to himself, Kisame kicked one of the sticks poking out of the fire.

Kisame kept his gaze fixed on the fire or actually the embers, which reminded him of someone's red eyes. Damn. Kisame didn't look away from the dying fire. He knew perfectly well that Itachi was smirking.

The end

So what did you think? Do you like my hypothesis?

Please review! No flames please.


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